The next generation of competitive advantage will accrue to companies that can create profitable business models around innovations that cater to underserved markets at lower tiers of the pyramid. Strategise to solve one big problem that India faces.

Identify an intractable socio-economic crisis and break it into a series of smaller, constituent parts. Analyse how you can leverage your competencies to address some critical parts of the problematic value chain. Challenge your technical teams to come out with a 70-50-30 solution (70% of the performance at 50% of the price and 30% of the cost), and in your go-to-market strategies, leverage partnerships with the citizenship sector. As you gain scale, look for markets in developed countries that you can disrupt with more advanced technological generations of these solutions.

Marc Effron

President of The Talent Strategy Group and co-author of One Page Talent Management

Executives can fast-forward their success in 2012 by ensuring that they have the absolute best team supporting them.

The first step is to reflect for a moment about each of their direct reports and then ask themselves, "Is this the best possible person I can get for this role?"

It's easy to settle for pretty good talent, loyal talent or hardworking talent.

Each of those are wonderful qualities but they aren't substitutes for being the best. If the answer is "no," make the decision now about whether you will grow them into the best or replace them with the best.

Whatever your choice, take the first concrete step to do this today.

Saikat Chaudhuri

Assistant Professor of Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The past few years were undoubtedly challenging for most firms the world over, as they faced economic uncertainties unparalleled in the recent past, and companies continue to stare into a nebulous future as 2012 approaches. But the reality is, even when the present crises subside and we are poised for new cycle of growth, firms looking for sustained success over the next years and decades need to become accustomed to regularly adapting to shifting conditions: technologies will continue to rapidly change, enhanced globalisation and liberalisation will cause markets to continuously evolve, and competitive landscapes will keep intensifying in the process. So how can corporations navigate such constant uncertainty, whether in good or bad times? One strategy to adapt to ever-changing environments and drive growth is to leverage outsourcing beyond the traditional boundaries, in order to efficiently, effectively, and flexibly leverage external capabilities as needed.

Outsourcing is no longer confined to peripheral functions like IT services and call centers to merely accord cost benefits, but increasingly offers sophisticated competencies like R&D, design, and other knowledge-based services. Leading firms particularly in the telecom, semiconductor, consumer electronics, and automotive industries (often quietly) take advantage of this to pursue opportunities and stay on the cutting edge, while making the most productive use of their resources.

But to take full advantage of this approach, especially in the long run, the best companies like Apple and Bharti Airtel are setting themselves up to become disaggregated virtual corporations that can 'plug and play' with their partners - by building modularised organizations having permeable boundaries across multiple levels, enabling them to seamlessly collaborate with outside entities. Done right, this type of new-age organisation can allow a firm to protect its intellectual property, retain and develop critical in-house capabilities, remain innovative, and most importantly, fluidly adjust with the times.